'This Week' Transcript: George Mitchell and King Abdullah II

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2011

Page 10 of 16

WILL: He did not. He -- he talked about his entire family,
which means his children. He has four daughters.

DOWD: Well, you know, to me this is indicative that these
candidates are making more news not running than running. At a time,
actually, when the president is as vulnerable as any president has
been going into a re-elect in recent memories. His numbers are in the
high 40s. He is immensely beatable right now.

And all of these credible candidates are not running. It reminds
me, right, a little bit of the "Seinfeld" show where it's -- like
right now, the Republican nomination is about nothing right now, with
all these candidates coming in and out, Huntsman. But I think it's
really indicative of a Republican field not quite knowing where to go
with this.

AMANPOUR: Good news for your side?

BRAZILE: Well, first of all, I think it's good news for the
Republican Party, because they clearly have to figure out who will be
their standard bearer? A year from now, we may not know the
Republican nominee because of the nominating process, which will force
these candidates to compete in one of the four early states -- Iowa,
New Hampshire, South Carolina Nevada. They have to come in first.
They don't have to win all four.

But then you go -- you get to a situation where it's in
proportional representation. They're winner-take-all in the month of
April. It will be drawn out. And because there's no front-runner
right now, it means that the Republicans will have to compete against
each other for the next year or so. That will give President Obama
enough what I call leg room to go out there and fix this economy,
which will put him in a better position to win re-election.

DOWD: And I think one of the things that you're going to see is
there's been some surprises of people not getting in. I think many
people, as Jonathan said and George said, thought Mitch Daniels was
going to run. He seemed like the right candidate, governor from the
Midwest.

AMANPOUR: And people were sort of holding their powder back,
right, waiting for that.

DOWD: So surprises -- surprises of not running. I think what
you're going to see in the next four or five months are of surprising
candidates who are going to get in who are not mentioned right now.

AMANPOUR: For instance?

DOWD: I actually think that Governor Perry in Texas is probably
going to reconsider. It seems it will be a good moment for a guy
that's very popular among Tea Party, he's very states-righty, very
anti-federal government, can raise a ton of money. I think Governor
Christie in New Jersey is going to be pushed to reconsider this. I
think there's going to be some surprising entries into this race.

AMANPOUR: You think so, too?

KARL: You're clearly seeing a push now, with -- and throw Jeb
Bush in there. I mean, they've all said no, but there will be a push
for them to get in. But, remember, we've seen this before. Wes Clark
got in, in September. Fred Thompson got in, in September. It is very
hard, no matter how big a name you are, to get in that late in the
game.